Did the US annexation of Puerto Rico in 1898 increase the biological standard of living of its population? A first anthropometric approach

Javier Moreno Lázaro ()
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Javier Moreno Lázaro: Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

No 2404, Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) from Asociación Española de Historia Económica

Abstract: This paper hypothesises that the annexation of Puerto Rico by the United States in 1898 led to a decline in material well-being, as measured by individual height, that lasted for the first three decades of the twentieth century. To demonstrate this, a significant sample has been created made up of the height of males born in Puerto Rico between 1877 and 1929 who were enlisted in the army between 1940 and 1947. In order to make the relevant comparisons a second sample with the heights of California residents has also been created. The results of the calculations show a sharp decline in the height of Puerto Ricans, both in relative and absolute terms. This deterioration was due to the shortcomings of the public policies implemented by the US government, which failed to improve the working, food, health and residential conditions of Puerto Ricans. In addition, they suffered the social costs of the price of sugar on the world market as well as those inherent in the late adoption of industrial capitalism. These results call into question the indolence of Spanish colonialism and highlight the difficulties of emerging US colonialism in generating welfare in the territories it occupied.

Keywords: Anthropometry; Puerto Rico; Spain; United States; colonialism; standard of living (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F54 I32 N36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2024-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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